being informed

today there is so much going on in the world and now Pres Bush wants to have everyone in the US get a Mental Health screen. This screams of pharmiceutical industry backing. Anyway, I am posting to just bring some issues to the forefront, not to offend. We need to be aware as parents and Americans what is happening.

A RESOLUTION FOR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND FULL INFORMED CONSENT REGARDING PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES OF CHILDREN

WHEREAS, An estimated 10 million U.S. children are taking dangerous mind-altering psychiatric drugs which have documented side-effects including suicidal ideation, mania, psychosis, future drug dependence; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has classified the drug methylphenidate (a psychiatric stimulant) as a Schedule II drug placing it in the same category of highly addictive drugs as cocaine, morphine and opium; and

WHEREAS, Between 1995 and 1999, the use of antidepressants for 7-to 12-year-olds increased 151% and increased 580% for children under six, with some as young as five committing suicide; and

WHEREAS, In December 2003, the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency prohibited the use of several SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) antidepressants on children under 18 years of age due to the drugs causing suicidal ideation; and

WHEREAS, On February 2, 2004, dozens of anguished parents testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that their children had committed suicide as a direct result of being prescribed the same antidepressant drugs that had been banned in Britain, and

WHEREAS, On March 22, 2004, 14 years after being presented with evidence that the SSRI antidepressants cause violent and suicidal reactions in patients, the FDA finally issued a warning for doctors and the public to be on the watch for suicidal ideation in children taking these drugs; and

WHEREAS, A July 21, 2004 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that during the treatment with SSRI antidepressant drugs there was a “significantly higher risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts for all the drugs during the first nine days of treatment” and went on to indicate that those starting treatment were four times more likely to think about suicide and 38 time more likely to commit suicide; and

WHEREAS, The FDA has recently released documents which confirm that children and adolescents on the newer antidepressants are twice as likely to have suicidal tendencies than children taking only sugar pills; and

WHEREAS, Numerous parents have been coerced to put their children on the same psychiatric drugs that can cause suicidal ideation as a requisite for attending school, resulting in the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Child Medication Safety Act by a vote of 425-1 in 2003 to stop such practices; and

WHEREAS, The mental health/psychiatric industry continues to mislead parents, educators and the general public by falsely promoting mental disorders as physical or medical abnormalities in order to justify the mass psychiatric drugging of children and even infants; and

WHEREAS, There is no blood test, brain scan, X-ray or any other medical test that can verify that any child has a mental “disorder” or “disease;” and

WHEREAS, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is a manual that contains 374 mental “disorders” which are simply a list of behavioral symptoms that are literally voted into existence and inserted into the manual. Such diagnoses include “Caffeine-Related Disorder,” “Mathematics Disorder,” “Disorder of Written _Expression,” and the all-encompassing “Phase of Life Problem;” and

WHEREAS, A new sweeping mental health initiative has been launched by the “President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health” (NFC) that calls for the wholesale mental health “screening” of all 52 million school children; and

WHEREAS, Mental health screenings are entirely subjective and will lead to millions more children being labeled as mental patients and placed on mind-altering, addictive and dangerous drugs; and

WHEREAS, The NFC recommended mental health screenings are based on the definition of mental illness as defined by psychiatry’s billing bible, the afore mentioned Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

WHEREAS, The NFC recommended “treatment” for children diagnosed with mental disorders includes the same antidepressants that can cause suicidal tendencies in children and adolescents; and

WHEREAS, Parents may consent to drug treatment in the sincere belief that they are treating a physical problem when in fact there is no physical abnormality and no medical or scientific test that can determine the existence of such mental disorders; and

WHEREAS, Children are being drugged without proof of any medical abnormality when in fact any medical professional who risked chemotherapy for a patient that had no cancer cells, gave insulin treatment to a patient who did not have diabetes, or performed surgery on a patient that had no medical abnormalities would be charged with medical malpractice; and

WHEREAS, The NFC recommended mental health screening programs for schools, such as TeenScreen, recommend that all schools get teens “screened and treated for mental illness just as they are for physical illness,” which is intentionally misleading parents and schools to believe that mental “illness” can be medically verified and diagnosed in the same manner as physical illnesses, which is false; and

WHEREAS, Parents are not given full disclosure about the subjective nature of mental health screening procedures, the non-medical nature of psychiatric diagnoses, and the potential dangers of treating their child with psychotropic drugs; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That we, the undersigned, call on the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to deny financial and legislative support for any mental health “screening” program or procedure, particularly in our public schools; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That we, the undersigned, call on Congress to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that are under no circumstances should HHS use federal funding to forward any type of mental health screening on American children or adults; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That we, the undersigned, call on Congress to ensure that the U.S. Department of Education implement new policy to provide full informed consent procedures for parents by distributing information to schools and parents, that any mental health screening or resultant diagnoses of the child is based on subjective criteria, and is not a scientifically verifiable medical diagnoses. To specify in plain and simple language that a “mental disorder” is not a physical disease, illness, malfunction or abnormality, which would require a test such as, but not limited to, blood or urine test, X-ray, brain scan or biopsy.

A screening does not mean that the children will be forced to take medicine. There are a lot of un-informed parents out there that don't even know that their kids are suffering with ADD...especially girls with the innattentive-type that I grew up with. These kids would have to struggle for years, perhaps all their lives (as many of us did) feeling like they could not measure up to the impossible standards teachers, parents, and peers try to hold them to. If a screening brought this problem to the attention of parents and teachers, non-medical changes could be made in that child's life, and a heavy burden of inadequacy would be lifted just by knowing he or she was not "lazy, stupid, or crazy." Just think how YOU felt when you found out. Wasn't it a relief? These kids are at the mercy of their parents, and let's face it...most parents don't seriously ask themselves "does my child have ADD...should I have her tested?" My parents didn't. I'm 26 years old, and have just recently been diagnosed. I feel like if I had had the proper guidance in how to deal with my ADD such as studying, social interactions, organizational skills, etc. I would not have such a hard time overcoming these problems now. Especially the social interactions.

I'm just saying, there are other outcomes of a screening than mandatory drugging.

Last edited by Administrator; 11-14-2005 at 12:07 PM.
Reason: no political comments.

I happened to disagree with this resolution. And I believe every one with a mental illness has the right to be treated just as dignified as someone with a physical/body illiness.

Much of the information in it is also UNTRUE, and it is just as misleading as a drug companies proposal to enact screening for a mental health disorder on perfectly normal child !! I would suggest you read the book " Change Your Brain, Change Your Life" As it all about the scanning of the brain, and the confirmation of a phychiatriatric diagnosis based on symptoms.

Whoever wrote this proposal seems to say there is no way to prove that on has a mental health condition. That is not true, these days they can do Spect scans and probally even more evolved things now, to "Prove" physical evidence of a problem up there.

I do hope that this resolution is ammended, it is very flawed. And I think that mental health screenings should be available as an only an OPTION but just as accessable as a physcial screening for school children.

I went through hell getting a proper diagnosis of my mental health disorder as a child, in public elementary and junior high school I went to ( I am 25 and I have very bonifide ADD + Depression)

I hope whoever wrote this resolution fixes it, it is more closed minded than anything that I have ever seen. It is too much based on opion and misinformative. As for the drug companies, what ever happened to a parents power to say no to drugs?? Why don't they come up with a law that says you have the right to choose whats best for your child in regards to phychaitric drugs; without repercusion ?? But those that want it should have it as well as the children who need shots and other sorts of medication.

Hi,
I agree with Amy2838. I am in my 30's now and I have struggled with ADD my whole life, never suspecting for one minute that I had it. After all I'm not a boy and I'm not hyper; I had always thought you had to be at least one of these to have ADD. I always thought that there was something wrong with me, that I just wasn't trying hard enough or maybe that I had an LD or was just "not quite bright". But recently I was tested for learning disabilities and the test revealed a surprizing result. Although it did show that I have LD it also revealed that I have what the medical community calls "ADHD with out hyperactivity". And apparently it often goes undiagnosed. I can't really say that I felt relieved, but I did feel that at least now I could do something about the problem.
Wednesday

It would be naive to think "mandatory" drug testing would not lead to "mandatory" drugging of children, in fact, it has already happened years ago: in some states parents were being charged with child neglect for taking their children off Ritalin when adverse effects appeared. Many parents were on this very board complaining of this, some even considered moving or home-schooling to avoid prosecution. I do believe some states changed their minds as parents pushed for changes in the laws.

The threat of mandatory drugging is very real because ADD has been accepted as a "medical condition"; so thus neglecting a child's "medical condition" could be considered endangering or neglecting a child once that child, via mandatory screening, is diagnoised with such a medical condition.

However, if my information is correct, I read recently that the massive opposition of this mandatory drug testing has lead to a re-write of the bill. Now it says "voluntary" testing will be offered in schools instead of mandatory, which if you ask me should have been the way it was written from day one. After all, if a child needs such screening, it isn't necessary to force the issue, as most parents would gladly want to seek help for their child.

Thank you for taking the time to write about drugs and side effects on our kids. I have been battling the idea of putting my kids on drugs, one for anxiety, one for adhd, (can you assume the two feed off each other a bit--yes) and I think I will prolong it as far as I can stay sane.

The statements above are obviously very biased and some might even be untrue.

I lean toward support of mandatory testing, myself. However, I'm not sure if it can be done without risk.

PS. Thanks for posting, I'm glad to be informed.

It's not so much biased but simple logic. If they tried to force drugging before, why not try again, but this time, since ADD, depression, etc. is a widely, officially accepted biological illness (still not biologically tested however), then it makes perfect sense that if children are forced to be tested and found to have a "biological illness", then they could claim the same "child neglect" as, for example, say a child had diabetes and parents didn't let them have insulin. Or needed an operation or other medication and the parent said no.

They could then force the issue, either threaten to take child away or fine/jail the parents due to child neglect.

Think the drug co's wouldn't love that? Their sales are down recently, it would sure boost sales. But again, I believe they amended the whole thing last I read, from "mandatory" to "voluntary" screening, due to the uproar....like I said, mandatory drugging for ADD was tried awhile back so some people already knew what this all would mean...

I think offering voluntary screening is perfect. This way, people can get help if they want it or feel they need it.

What about the children (more on the jr high, high school front) who feel they have a problem, yet the parent refuses to aknowledge it as a problem and refuses to help the child get the help and maybe the drugs they need? I had this problem when I was a child, and now that Im married I finally got the help that I needed and the drugs, but not without years of wonderif I was ok, normal and whatnot and being severly self destructive which I now have under control, no thanks to my parents. If I had the opportunity to get voluntay testing when I was in school, maybe I could have gotten help before things got out of control.
~Jen~